Odette Lepeltier (1914 – 2006): Form and Colour
18 February – 21 May 2023
One of the key female figures in 20th century ceramics, Odette Lepeltier (1914-2006) remains insufficiently well known. Alongside Colette Guéden, Louise-Edmée Chevallier and Guidette Carbonell, she was one of the female artists who contributed to the renewal of art ceramics in the post-war period by revisiting small-scale statuary and colour. Odette Lepeltier practiced ceramics as a sculptor: her earthenware vases took the form of feminine figures, her decorative works, inspired by nature, were shaped in clay before being painted with tin glaze.
Already holding two of her major works, thanks to the museum’s Friends Society, La Piscine acquired Odette Lepeltier’s full archives in 2011. Crucial to the artist’s legacy and an exemplary narrative of the life of a ceramicist involved in commercial distribution during the 20th century, this invaluable collection found a natural home in La Piscine’s graphic arts section, associated with the museum’s modern ceramic collection. As well as offering an opportunity to present, study and publish this previously unseen group of 69 sketchbooks and over 1,300 pages, the exhibition also features a number of ceramics, which remained in family collections, for the first time since the artist’s death.
General Curator Amandine Delcourt, Documentalist
Expert Curator Madeleine Jacomet, Art Historian
Catalogue co-published by La Piscine museum and Gourcuff-Gradenigo
The design was made possible thanks to generous support from the paints distributed by Tollens.
